


Red Delicious

by idoneum



Category: The Mentalist
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-03-05
Updated: 2013-03-05
Packaged: 2017-12-04 10:26:23
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 344
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/709712
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/idoneum/pseuds/idoneum
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Patrick's latest little ploy pleases him. The man is a worm, anyhow. He might have made Patrick a gift of his death even if Patrick hadn't practically begged him to--and on television, too. </p>
<p>(In the aftermath of the Jane and Panzer interview in S04 E07, Red John considers the future)</p>
            </blockquote>





	Red Delicious

I am so proud of him. My dear, sly Patrick. He is beginning to understand that he is not so very different from me after all. And such a clever little trick. He understood I couldn’t let that lilliputian worm say such things about my legacy and live. Patrick led him so beautifully to wrap a noose of his own hubris around his neck. As if the San Joaquin Killer could ever be as masterful as Red John!

 

I almost didn’t realize what he was doing at first, going on a television show to talk about a pathetic creature without half the artistry and intelligence that I have.  I was going to punish him for that--for ignoring me, teasing me, trying to make me jealous. I hadn’t decided yet on a message suitable enough to drive the point home--perhaps a little girl, blonde like sweet Charlotte--but then I realized what he was up to. Patrick Jane, invoking _my_ name for help with a problem he could not solve. It was delicious. 

 

He needs me. He will come to me, one day, and beg for my favor--I can see it now. It will be beautiful. He will be so twisted in his misery, in his shattered pride--for he is a proud man, my Patrick. But I won’t make him grovel long--he is, after all, my nearest equal. He will tremble under my hand when I raise him up and guide him to stand at my side, but he will understand his place soon enough.  I made him the man he is--pushed him, and tested him, burned away the chaff, the softness, sharpened him to bright perfection.

 

What a joy it will be, when that spark in his eyes is finally turned to the task of my glory. He will wring bloody tears out of all those who’ve wronged me, wronged _us._ He will be a vengeful spirit leashed only by my hand.

 

Patrick Jane is mine. Soon he will know it.

 

He will thank me, in the end.

 


End file.
